Jane Wong will eat at Tony’s Baltimore Grill (of course) and read from her new memoir: ‘Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City’
In her new memoir, Jane Wong writes of Atlantic City, a magical place as a child, but one into which her father disappeared to gamble, ultimately costing the family its Chinese takeout restaurant.
Jane Wong, 38, a poet, professor, and author now living in Seattle, grew up in Central Jersey and spent a lot of time in Atlantic City. It is a place that she found magical as a child, but a place into which her father frequently disappeared to gamble, ultimately costing the family its Chinese takeout restaurant in Shrewsbury.
In her new memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City, (a line, of course, from the Springsteen song), she explores the “emotional weight” of Atlantic City, how the Asian community in particular has been targeted by casinos, and the toll it took on her family.
“This can’t be boiled down to cultural proclivity for luck,” she writes. “Casino buses roll into Chinatowns across the country like ice cream trucks for a reason.”
She’ll be back in Atlantic City for the first time since her childhood on Saturday, June 17, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Mighty Writers, 15 N. California Ave., for a reading and book signing and a traditional lion and fan dance performance by Dynasty Alliance.
She’s also been invited to eat at Tony’s Baltimore Grill, which has stayed in her memories since childhood and made it into the memoir. (Tony’s has that way about never letting a person truly leave.)
What is it about Atlantic City that all these years later, you still felt so deeply about it?
My father gambled quite a bit when I was younger. Atlantic City definitely has a particular weight about it. Beyond my family’s personal story about gambling and debt, ultimately that city is a city of dreams, in many ways building something from nothing. As a kid, it was a dream come true — fried doughnuts, the smell of the ocean, all the colors. I’m coming back to Atlantic City with a lot of joy and hope, and also forgiveness.
In the book, you imagine a future walking down an empty Boardwalk with your father, who you haven’t seen in more than a decade. You write, “What kind of luck do I need for this to come true?”
That’s where forgiveness comes in. Even though it’s a hard and tragic story in many ways, there’s a lot of tenderness in it for the city and also for my father.
If we believe in luck, if I could just blow on dice and roll some big number, what’s going to make me connect with my father and have this relationship? Is it work or is it luck? What kind of luck? It has to be luck at this point. It’s heartbreaking. On a more personal level, he is not well. I had to write this book in order to see him. [She’s planning a reunion.]
As an adult, you began to look at your father’s gambling addiction in a new way.
“Sometimes he disappeared for 2, 3 weeks. We didn’t know where he went. He’s the chef. We would scramble. He went to Atlantic City. When I was a kid, I thought this was just my family. I knew my father gambled with some of his Chinese friends. I didn’t know this happened to quite a few Chinese families.
Atlantic City really sticks with people, even the weirdest details, like the “transparent lettuce with Russian dressing,” you saw at the food buffets.
I grew up eating my family’s food, Cantonese and Toisanese. When I first saw iceberg lettuce, it looked like a jewel.